There's a very specific moment in a company's life when Excel becomes the enemy, not the friend. You're working in 4 parallel files, no one knows which is the latest version, you've lost a deal because you didn't call a lead in time, and every month starts with 2 hours of "who's handling what?".
That's the moment a custom CRM pays dividends. Before that — Excel is enough.
Excel is enough if...
- You have under 50 active clients at the same time.
- You work alone or with 1-2 colleagues.
- The process is simple: quote → order → invoice.
- You're not losing leads due to chaos.
You need a custom CRM if...
- 3+ colleagues "think" they're handling the same client.
- You lose sales because you forget to follow up.
- You want to see instantly "how many quotes are in progress and at what stage?".
- You have processes that repeat (3 days after quote, 7 days after order) — you want them to happen automatically.
- Customer data is scattered across emails, WhatsApp, Excel files and a colleague's mind.
Why custom, not "off-the-shelf"?
Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive — all excellent tools. But:
- Monthly cost forever — 30-50€/user/month × 5 users × 12 months = 1,800-3,000€/year, every year.
- They force you into their process — got a flow that doesn't fit? Buy an add-on. Or adapt yourself.
- Your data is theirs — want to switch platform? Migration is a nightmare.
- You pay for features you don't use — 80% of features stay untouched.
Custom CRM means: your process, exactly how your company works, no monthly rent to a foreign platform.
What goes into a GateHex custom CRM
- Client list with full history (quotes, orders, communication).
- Visual pipeline — see at what stage each lead is.
- Tasks and deadlines with automatic notifications.
- Roles and permissions (sales sees what they need, accounting sees what they need).
- Reports that actually interest you (not the canned ones from a platform).
- Email + WhatsApp integration for direct communication from the CRM.
- Daily backup, the data stays yours forever.
How long? How much?
A functional custom CRM with pipeline + tasks + reports — 4-8 weeks, 4,000-8,000 €. Once, not monthly. After that you only have maintenance (50-150 €/month, optional).
Compared to 3,000 €/year paid forever to an external platform, the custom CRM becomes cheap after 18-24 months — and it's 100% yours.
Tired of Excel? Get a custom CRM quote or tell us directly what processes you want to see in it.